Composer Kevin Day writes the following:

"When I was writing Dancing Fire, I wanted to write a piece for my high school band program and its directors for the great pieces we played, the fun times we had, and the excitement our bands created at our concerts. The picture I had in my head before I began writing was a group of people surrounding a large bonfire during the night. These people began dancing around the fire, having fun, singing songs, and ultimately, celebrating life.

Once I had that picture in my head, along with the constant repeating motif that eventually became the melody for the entire piece, the rest of the work fit together nicely, and in two weeks it was done. The composition brings this mental picture I had to life in a fun and energetic way with dance-like percussion and a constant groove, as well as its contagious melody, a mysterious soprano sax solo, and a climactic ending.

This was written in dedication to the Arlington High School Band Program in Arlington, TX and to my former band directors, Michael Hejny, Nathan Burum, and Nathan Hervey."

With this in mind, I sought to arrange a version of Dancing Fire for adaptable ensemble that would preserve the fiery spirit and vigor contained within this ultimately joyful music, no matter what the performance situation for its performers may be. The integrity of Kevin's original composition has been preserved as much as possible, with the passages deemed most important arranged into each of the five parts. Meanwhile, the palette of colors and textures has been expanded to bring this piece into a new realm of opportunities and experimentation (including optional parts for strings and synthesizers, if available). Finally, the piano, harp, and mallet percussion parts have also been expanded to preserve many of the accentuations and harmonic textures guiding the original version of this piece. As a result, the spirit and vigor of Dancing Fire remains as much as possible in any performance situation, whether performing just the five parts alone; the five parts, plus any or all additional backing tracks created for this piece; or, the five parts plus all additional keyboard, string, and percussion parts.

My sincerest thanks and appreciation goes to Kevin for granting me permission to create this new version of Dancing Fire for adaptable ensemble.

-program note by the arranger

-Please credit the following where applicable:
—Kevin Day if reproducing his program notes for his original version of this piece
—the arranger [Josh Trentadue] if reproducing or excerpting any portion of his note
—Kevin Day and Josh Trentadue if reproducing this entire program note in full